FCI Dublin Sexual Abuse Lawsuits: Consent Decree, Damages Suits and Prosecutions

Legal accuracy check

Chris Schroeder, Esq.

Florida Bar #520381 · D.C. Bar

First published October 5, 2026 · Last checked October 5, 2026

How pages are checked

Who may be able to file

Two groups of people are covered by the cases described here, and they overlap only in part.

The class action, California Coalition for Women Prisoners v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, sought changes in how the Bureau of Prisons treats the women it held at Dublin, not money for individuals. Paragraph 11 of the consent decree defines the class as people incarcerated at FCI Dublin between March 15, 2024 and May 1, 2024, plus the named plaintiffs. Being a class member does not by itself create a damages claim.

The damages suits are brought by women formerly held at FCI Dublin who allege they were sexually abused by staff there. They sue the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), and some also name the individual former employees. Whether a particular woman can bring a claim depends on when the abuse happened, whether a written claim reached the BOP in time, and how the court resolves the tolling question described below. Many of the women in these cases file under initials, and the court has granted motions to proceed anonymously in related cases filed in 2026. Our guide to filing anonymously explains how that works.

One point surprises people. The Prison Rape Elimination Act sets national standards for prisons, but it does not give a prisoner a right to sue. Federal appeals courts, in unpublished decisions such as Krieg v. Steele (5th Cir. Apr. 15, 2015), have held that PREA creates no private cause of action. Claims over abuse in a federal prison are brought under the FTCA instead.

Deadlines that apply

A claim against the United States for the conduct of a federal employee is governed by federal law, not by California’s deadlines. Two sections of Title 28 set the sequence.

Section 2401(b) states that a tort claim against the United States “shall be forever barred unless it is presented in writing to the appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues or unless action is begun within six months after the date of mailing, by certified or registered mail, of notice of final denial of the claim by the agency to which it was presented.” Section 2675(a) adds that no lawsuit may be filed until the agency has finally denied the claim in writing, sent by certified or registered mail. If the agency does not decide within six months of the filing, the claimant may treat that silence as a final denial.

In practice the order is: a written claim to the BOP first, then a denial or six months without a decision, then a lawsuit. The six months in section 2401(b) runs from the date the denial is mailed.

When a claim “accrues” for a survivor of abuse that happened years ago is decided case by case. In A.L. v. United States, the court is now deciding “whether equitable tolling applies to the two-year limitation for claims submitted under the Federal Tort Claims Act” (Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse, order of March 30, 2026, Dkt. 195). On April 1, 2026 the court allowed limited discovery of bellwether plaintiffs’ social media on that issue (Dkt. 196). The answer will matter to every woman whose claim reached the BOP more than two years after the abuse. No ruling on it was on the docket as of October 5, 2026.

What the claims allege

The damages suits allege that FCI Dublin staff sexually abused women in their custody and that the BOP was negligent in failing to prevent it. These are allegations. No court has entered a civil liability finding against the United States in any Dublin damages case.

The criminal cases are different, because a guilty plea or a jury verdict is a finding. A federal jury convicted the former warden, Ray J. Garcia, on all counts on December 8, 2022. Eight other employees were convicted by a jury or pleaded guilty between 2022 and 2025 (table below). Those convictions establish what each defendant did to the women named in his own case. They do not establish what happened to anyone else, and they do not decide whether the United States is liable.

The class action made constitutional claims for system-wide relief rather than damages. The court certified a class and granted a preliminary injunction on March 15, 2024, and appointed Wendy Still as Special Master on April 5, 2024, according to the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse summary of the case. On April 15, 2024 the BOP announced it would close FCI Dublin, and the women held there were moved to other facilities.

On the BOP’s side, the record we read holds one statement of position: paragraph 112 of the consent decree, in which the defendants “do not admit any liability” on the part of the United States or its employees. The United States’ filings in the damages suits were not read for this page, and we found no public BOP statement on those suits.

The class action and consent decree

The class action was filed on August 16, 2023, in the Northern District of California, No. 4:23-cv-04155-YGR. The plaintiffs are the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and individual women identified on the docket by initials. Judge Gonzalez Rogers gave final approval to the consent decree on February 27, 2025, in an order that made the final judgment “EFFECTIVE March 31, 2025” (Dkt. 473).

Paragraph 32 of the decree sets its term at two years from the effective date, which is March 31, 2027 by our calculation. Paragraph 115 lets the BOP ask the court to end it for substantial compliance no earlier than 18 months after the effective date, which fell on September 30, 2026. No termination motion appears on the docket through the entry of September 29, 2026.

Wendy Still now serves as Senior Monitor. Her third quarterly status report, dated April 14, 2026 and covering October 1 to December 31, 2025, makes 12 findings and recommendations. It reports that the number of class members held in BOP facilities fell from 305 in April 2025 to 239 in December 2025, not counting women in residential reentry centers. It also reports that complaints about medical care, retaliation and staff misconduct rose over 2025, while complaints related to PREA declined.

On April 9, 2026 the court approved a $3 million agreement for class counsel’s fees and costs through March 31, 2025 (Dkt. 545). That figure excludes fees for monitoring and enforcement, and it is not money paid to class members. On May 13, 2026 the court denied a motion to enforce the decree and motions for an evidentiary hearing (Dkt. 556). Settlement conferences before Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero continued through 2026: one on March 26 listed as concerning the budget, a further session of four and a quarter hours on July 9, and an order setting another on September 29 (Dkt. 572), whose date and subject are not public. A class member’s appeal from an order denying her leave to seek reconsideration is pending in the Ninth Circuit as No. 26-5202.

The individual damages suits and bellwethers

The second wave of damages claims is led by A.L. v. United States, N.D. Cal. No. 4:24-cv-06580-YGR, filed September 19, 2024. Newly filed cases are being related to it and sent to Judge Gonzalez Rogers, with discovery handled by Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse. Relation orders were still being entered as of September 1, 2026 (Dkt. 267), and anonymity orders cover cases numbered into 4:26-cv-02xxx.

How many women are in the group is not stated in any court record we found. At a hearing reported on December 17, 2025, an Assistant U.S. Attorney said a total of 280 cases were expected, according to KTVU. On May 1, 2026, KTVU reported that 294 women had filed or planned to file, sorted into five categories by the period of the alleged abuse.

The court is using bellwether cases, a small set of individual suits worked up first so that both sides and the court can see how the issues play out. It set the selection procedure on March 27, 2026 (Dkt. 191) and entered its Order Selecting Bellwether Cases on May 4, 2026 (Dkt. 217). Which cases were chosen is not public. A discovery order of March 30, 2026 refers to the health care records of “twelve bellwether plaintiffs” (Dkt. 195).

Later entries:

• June 1, 2026: plaintiffs ordered to give notice to all individual defendants (Dkt. 237).
• July 13, 2026: stipulated order allowing the deposition of Ray J. Garcia, who is in custody (Dkt. 254).
• August 3, 2026: Magistrate Judge Tse grants a stipulation recommending a 45-day extension of the case schedule (Dkt. 260, 261).
• August 21, 2026: the district court enters a Case Management Scheduling Order (Dkt. 262). Its dates are not public, so the earlier schedule of March 23, 2026 should be treated as replaced.

No trial date was on the docket as of October 5, 2026.

Criminal cases against FCI Dublin staff

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California reported on May 1, 2026 that ten FCI Dublin employees had been charged. The table below is drawn from the status table in that release. A criminal case is brought by the government and is separate from a survivor’s civil claim. Our guide to civil and criminal cases explains the difference.

Jeffrey Wilson worked as a health technician and paramedic while employed as a correctional officer. Judge Gonzalez Rogers imposed his sentence. Darrell Smith was not convicted of any offense, and nothing on this page should be read as saying he committed one.

Settlement and compensation status

The first wave of individual damages claims, brought by more than 100 women, settled in December 2024. The amount is reported differently by the two organizations that announced it. The National Women’s Law Center’s release of December 17, 2024 says the Justice Department “agreed to a $115.8 million historic settlement on behalf of 103 current and former incarcerated women.” Class counsel, Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld, said in its release of December 18, 2024 that the settlement was “$115M” for “over 100 survivors.” We did not find a court record or a Justice Department record of the amount; the settlement appears to have been reached outside any court docket. Whether its terms include an admission of liability is not in a record we read.

The consent decree in the class action pays nothing to individual women. Its money terms in the record we read are the $3 million in attorneys’ fees and costs approved on April 9, 2026.

The second-wave suits led by A.L. v. United States are unresolved. As of October 5, 2026 the docket showed no settlement, no trial date and no ruling on the tolling question. We do not publish estimates of what any claim is worth. Our guide to how settlements are paid explains the process in general terms.

Update log

No dated updates are published for this page yet.

Questions we are asked most

Related states and institutions

FCI Dublin is one of several federal women’s prisons where staff abuse has reached the courts. Our prisons and jails hub covers the others, and the institutions overview sets out every type of institution this site tracks. For the steps involved in bringing a claim, see what filing actually involves. If you want to make a report to authorities, our guide to reporting abuse lists the options, and trauma and healing covers support that does not depend on any case.